


Loving Claire

by CaptainGlitch



Category: Sister Claire (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Posted on march 20 bc Claire's birthday!!, Romance, i love this ship so much, or at least I try
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-03-28 10:57:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13902582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainGlitch/pseuds/CaptainGlitch
Summary: While traveling together, Marie comes to a conclusion. Maybe she knew it all along but never had the time to put it into words...





	Loving Claire

**Author's Note:**

> This was written back in 2015 (I think it was February or March?) so there might be (I’m not really sure) inconsistencies with current revelations and what not, but other than a spell check and some style corrections I didn’t want to change much (plot-wise) from my original work from back then before sharing. It’s just some good old ClaireMarie for the soul so I hope you enjoy the ride ;)  
> Just some note for your consideration, when the story changes to present tense it starts taking place after they leave Esperanza’s house and before they encounter the big ass shard (all the way back at the beginning of book 2, chapter 6, it feels like that happened ages ago... kinda nostalgic).

Marie has _always_ liked Claire. She just never knew how much.

When she was younger, her only form of measure was by comparison. Back then she knew she liked Claire more than Rosie, but Rosie sometimes wasn’t that good as far as measures went. Since she spent so much time with her sister, her young mind came to realize there were lots of things she liked more than her.

But it was ok. In that moment she wasn’t particularly worried about finding out just how much she liked Claire. She was sure she liked her and that was enough.

She had always found the girl to be really cute, even cuter than her favorite stuffed toy or cuter than the baby bunnies Rosie and her once spotted near the graveyard at the back of the abbey.

Even if Claire wasn’t good at doing some things she still did her best in a way that _always_ seemed endearing to Marie. Rosie on the other hand found it annoying.

Marie made a point of elbowing her sister every time her annoyance was bordering noticeable. She didn’t want Claire to feel bad or discouraged just because her sister chose to be, like, a jerk sometimes.

When the girl cooked breakfast for them she almost always added too much pepper to the eggs, or cooked them too much to the point they got burnt, or let them stick to the pan... Rosie would complain but Marie wouldn’t mind.

The fact that Claire was the one preparing the food made their meal really, _really_ special.

Claire was always trying so, so hard to be good.

She was quiet and hardly ever talked. At the table she sat shrinking, like she wanted to use as little space in the chair as possible, and she walked quickly through the hallways, close to the wall, like a small animal trying to stay out of everyone’s way.

She didn’t even ask for help, lest she bother someone.

Most of the times she was shy, but she was also so sweet and caring. She always did what she could to help, even in the littlest things, without being asked.

Like that one time when Claire noticed Marie was staring at a magpie and then got sad when the bird flew away. And just some hours later Claire was sliding a drawing of that same bird under the door to Marie and Rosie’s room.

Marie wanted to give her the world, but she knew from experience just how annoying she came across sometimes and didn’t want to overstep the carefully placed boundaries Claire had.

But she still reveled in the opportunities to do things for her or spend time with her. Even just greeting her in the hallways when they crossed paths was usually enough to make her smile.

_Turns out she didn’t “just like” Claire, she loved her..._

 

But that wasn’t like a shock or anything. She loved Rosie too... She loved Sister Oscar, and Sister Jackson, and Sister Olga, and Sister Catherine, and Sister Yolanda (she was still deciding if she loved Sister Margerite, it was a bit complicated with her).

She kind of always figured loving Claire was something ordinary and she brushed it off just as it happened with many other things that sounded simple enough.

Time would go by without Marie thinking too much about her feelings for Claire, even if sometimes she would feel something stirring inside her she would just ignore it and keep going. She loved a lot of people, why should loving Claire be any different?

Sometimes she thought she liked or loved Claire more than her sister, it just never occurred to her that she might just like her or love her in a different way...

 

* * *

 

 The moment she finds out just how much she might actually like her is the moment Rosie also finds out; the older twin can’t help it if she starts to suddenly feel awkward about that.

         “I think I started to _like-like_ her when we found out she had a connection with Catherine the same way you and I have our bond.” She finds herself telling Rosie one day. She doesn’t use the word _love_ but she knows that Rosie _knows._

The possibility that Claire may be able to relate to her in a part of her that she was really insecure about has something to do, definitely. Just not with the feelings, but with the realization of said feelings.

         “I know.” Rosie answers. Her face is a weird mix of surprise and uneasiness.

Marie doesn’t even have to mention the name of Claire for Rosalie to know who Marie is talking about.

Since then Marie wants nothing more than to get even closer to Claire. She takes every chance she has to be near her and sometimes Rosie helps her get those chances. For some reason she’s really comfortable just getting to spend time with Claire. Even in those times when they don’t talk that much.

Recently there have been times when she nearly blew her cover, but thankfully Claire doesn’t seem to have any suspicions yet and Marie sometimes feels it’s okay if Claire never finds out about how deep her feelings run.

After all, looking at their current predicament there’s really not enough time for romantic relationships and Claire doesn’t seem to be interested in romance anyways.

And Marie is not quite happy with the way things have turned out, but she’s not upset either and, besides, the time she has spent with Claire in just some weeks of traveling is enough to make Marie forget about everything that inconveniences her.

Some weeks have gone by and they’ve already fell into something slightly resembling a routine; as much of a routine as you can get while traveling around with the surroundings changing every day.

It’s a nice evening, the kind of evening they would spend in the gardens if they were back at the abbey; the sunlight coloring the area in orange hues and the warm wind playing with their hair and loose clothes.

Marie adores every second of it.

She has been spending time with Catherine. The woman is doing some embroidery on Rosie’s cape and Marie tags along to learn a thing or two.

She’s never been that good with sewing. She knows how it is done and she could possibly do a decent job if she had to, but she can’t do it as fast or as neatly as Catherine or Claire.

They chat some more even after Catherine is done and Marie gets the fleeting feeling that she could get used to this life. They can’t keep doing this forever but, in the meantime, it is fine.

She notices Rosie is training with her sword not too far from them but Claire is nowhere to be seen. She probably isn’t too far from them; with some luck she can find her and spend some time with her. The idea makes her excited even if it’s something kind of dumb.

She excuses herself and goes looking for Claire, so to speak. She doesn’t really need to look, since she knows exactly where Claire is. She just has to follow the path of yellowing leaves and grass (she tells herself it has nothing to do with just how easily she senses Claire’s aura anywhere it goes, nope, it’s not that, definitely not because Marie is so fixed in Claire’s shiny aura).

She finds her almost immediately; the girl is writing something in her diary with her back leaning against a big rock.

         “Hey, Claire!”

         “Hey!” Claire's greeting feels less lively but not because she isn't happy to see Marie. It’s just that next to Marie’s energy almost anyone would fall short.

         “Are you busy?” Marie walks some steps towards her.

         “Not really.” Claire closes her diary and puts it aside. It's an invitation for Marie to come closer and reach into her personal space.

Marie does so and kneels in front of the redhead to lay a hand on Claire's bulging stomach. Sometimes she likes to do that and Claire doesn’t mind.

Claire smiles at the gesture and the blush in her full cheeks brings out her freckles. How can Claire be so cute and pretty without even trying?

Loving Claire has always being so easy and effortless; Marie sometimes believes it’s not even fair how Claire can be so selfless and give so much love but she hardly accepts the love others try to give her.

Marie can feel the dumb smile in her lips but it’s not important, Claire is one of the few people that would never ever think of Marie as dumb... _probably_.

The thought makes Marie’s heart jump and she has to look away to slow a bit her heartrate, her gaze falls down at her hand still over Claire’s stomach. Claire places her own hand over Marie’s and squeezes softly and Marie can feel her own stomach do backflips because this kind of small actions are enough to make her so, so happy.

In that instant, Claire wins an awful lot of cute points and establishes herself at the very top of Marie’s “Cute Things Ranking” (not that it matters because Claire has been hoarding the first place since forever—completely undefeated—but that’s neither here nor there).

Marie’s self-control is wavering, but for some reason Marie doesn’t care. Claire is the prettiest girl in the world and deserves so much love and Marie needs to do something about it, like, right now.

 

* * *

 

Marie raises her head to smile at Claire and that's when Claire notices how close her face really is to Marie's. A nervous warm smile is the only thing she offers to the younger twin before Marie leans a bit and kisses her lips.

_Oh god in the heavens!_

Marie is kissing _her_. Sweet, gentle, Marie is _actually kissing her_.

Marie is so perfect and kind, and nice... all smiles and caring actions and Claire feels so underwhelmed and unprepared for this.

She's supposed to close her eyes, right? She doesn't remember where she read or learned that but she knows it's wrong to _not_ do it.

Yet she stares. She can't help it, she stares and notices Marie's cheeks look a bit pink and she's not sure if it's due to embarrassment or if it's just sunburns.

Before she can think anything else, Marie breaks the kiss, leaving Claire with a weird feeling in her chest and she’s not sure if she likes it or not, but the one making her feel like this is Marie, and everything that has to do with Marie is somehow never wrong.

She decides the feeling is a weird crave for more, she’s not exactly sure what does _“more”_ stand for though.

But Marie looks ashamed and Claire doesn't know how to make that feeling go away. She doesn’t want Marie to feel bad. If she wasn’t so useless she would know what to do right now.

         “I'm sorry, that was, like, really uncool.” Marie laughs, it’s a soft breathy laugh but it sounds so insincere, and it’s wrong because Marie is basically made up of sincere gestures and warm smiles... and this laugh is neither of those. “Sorry, I totally wasn't thinking, you're just so cute I really wanted to kiss that cute face of yours.”

Marie lifts her hand to touch Claire's cheek but the regret flashes in her eyes and she lowers her hand not even half way through.

Claire nods awkwardly, since she’s not certain she can speak right now. She wants to, but she’s not even sure her brain may be able to come up with understandable speech. Marie places one lock of bright blond hair behind her ear and Claire feels dizzy.

It takes her an embarrassingly long moment to truly comprehend what the taller girl just told her.

Marie is standing up to leave when Claire's trembling hand grabs clumsily at her arm. And she swears to god she wasn't planning it but she squeezes Marie's bicep and it feels so firm under her wobbly fingers. The lightheadedness that hasn’t quite gone away strikes back full force; her vision is getting blurry.

She might actually faint if she doesn’t act fast.  She’s taking the risk of fainting and worry Marie even more but her brain is so not cooperating and she can’t find the words to say.

Marie stays there, half-standing awkwardly. She’s not moving to sit or to stand and she looks surprised more than confused when the younger girl's hands find the sides of her face and bring it closer for another kiss.

She barely notices Marie scrambling to place her hands in the rock at either side of Claire’s head.

Claire feels her head lighten and her face is uncomfortably warm; her eyelids close and her focus is on feeling the warm lips over hers.

She never imagined the skin on her lips would be so _sensitive_... Also, before now she never considered Marie's lips would feel so _soft_. Marie's hands are soft, if a bit calloused, but nothing can compare with the softness and tenderness of her lips.

Kissing never made a lot of sense to her before, but right now, this close to Marie, she can kind of understand the charm.

It's an intimate moment, like she's sharing something very personal with Marie. It's also thrilling, like sharing secrets. She can feel Marie's love and appreciation, she feels safe, she feels happy, she feels... like she's... _suffocating?_

That might be because she's not even breathing... did she outright forgot to keep breathing when they started kissing?

By now she has more than enough reasons to faint, but she hopes with all her heart that this moment doesn’t get interrupted by something silly like that.

She doesn't know what to do with her hands so they stay at the sides of Marie's face, clutching a bit too tightly. But Marie is so, so kind and if it bothers her she doesn't complain at all.

Marie recoils slowly from the kiss, their lips making a smacking sound when they are separated.

Claire takes big gulps of air and a small hiccup leaves her mouth. it's a bit embarrasing but Marie has nothing but admiration to give in reply.

Her eyes sparkle while she admires Claire’s face up close, her hand brushes some orange hair aside and suddenly they’re kissing again.

And Claire doesn't know who started it this time but she's glad Marie is kissing her. And when she feels Marie smile into the kiss she can also feel happiness bubbling in her chest and ticking her stomach.

When they part, Marie is laughing softly and it's such a sweet sound that could brighten every situation and Claire is grateful for having Marie here to make her feel this way... Special, happy, soothed... things she didn't honestly expect to feel again after fleeing the abbey (things she's not actually sure she felt back at the abbey).

         “Your laugh...” Claire states breathlessly.

         “What about it?” Marie asks in a whisper, her bright eyes are scanning Claire’s face eagerly.

         “...It's cute.”

The smile that fills Marie's face is so big she nearly has to close her eyes for the smile to fit in her face.

         “That's because your face is cute,” she answers.

Claire can’t recall the exact number of times she has heard Marie call her (or anything related to her) cute, but for some reason today is the first time she can actually answer the compliment without becoming a blushing blabbering mess (her face still gets all red, mind you).

         “T-thanks, but I think your face is cuter.”

Marie leans closer but this time places a peck in the top of her nose, with just enough strength to make it wrinkle a little.

Claire can't help but notice tears in the corners of Marie's eyes. When did she start crying?

When Marie leans back one of Claire's hands reaches up to wipe the tears with her thumb.

         “You're crying.” She states dumbly when she feels the need to justify her actions.

Marie smiles.

         “It's because you make me, like, really-really happy.”

And Claire wishes Marie would kiss her again because she really likes the way Marie seems to pour her love and affection into the kisses. It makes her knees weak, and her stomach tickles as if she was swallowing laugher and her whole body feels more relaxed and refreshed than ever.

But Marie just takes a seat next to her and kisses her temple, without even noticing, the action triggers a bout of soft laughter in Claire, and for some reason Claire feels like this is good enough too.

Claire’s giggles are interrupted by a yawn.

         “If you’re, like, tired you should totally take a nap.”

         “I don’t know; I don’t want to oversleep and ruin my sleep schedule or something.”

That’s a lie; she just doesn’t want to waste the time she spends with Marie sleeping.

         “It’s just a nap, twenty minutes... thirty minutes tops! I’ll wake ya up before you oversleep; you’ll feel totally refreshed afterwards, trust me!”

But the way in which Marie talks is so convincing, Claire can’t say no to her bright eyes and kind smiles.

 

* * *

 

Claire takes Marie’s offer and leans against the rock while closing her eyes. She looks so peaceful, Marie can’t help but smile.

She chances a glance to the pocket watch she borrowed from Rosie that morning and makes a mental note of waking Claire when the nap time’s up.

When Claire’s breathing becomes soft and even and she’s sure Claire is asleep, Marie holds the girl’s hand. She already kissed her, she knows that, but for some reason simply holding her hand is enough to make her feel tingles in her stomach and a soft scarlet color blooms in her cheeks.

From time to time she looks sideways at Claire’s face. The cutest face she’s ever seen. Sometimes she can’t stop staring at those big blue eyes (that right now lay hidden beneath her eyelids) in that round cute face.

More than one sigh escapes between her lips. For the first time in a long time everything is peaceful and she feels like she might have actually found a way to be happy in the middle of all this confusion and danger they managed to get dragged to.

She would be lying if she said she would rather have a peaceful (boring) life in the abbey that the adventure she’s living right now. There’s pain and uncertainty but it’s not totally terrible. It obviously becomes even better by the fact that she can be with Claire and Rosie and Catherine. But she’s mostly happy that she can spend times like this with Claire.

She would never get to be with Claire like this back in the abbey, so that’s definitely a big improvement in her book.

 

When twenty-five minutes have passed Marie places a gentle hand on Claire’s shoulder and shakes her gently. Claire mumbles something the younger twin can’t really understand but it makes her smile nevertheless.

She leans down and kisses her cheek, her lips lingering against the skin.

         “Wakey-wakey, Claire,” she mumbles in her sweetest voice.

         “Rise and shine,” Claire replies in sleepy mumbles.

Marie laughs softly and that’s when Claire begins to stir.

         “Thanks, Marie.”

         “No prob, girlfriend.”

She doesn’t think too much about that last word and how the recent events that transpired might change the implied meaning behind it just a bit, she can save that overthinking for later.

For now, she could stare at Claire’s face all day, but in the back of her mind there’s something looming, something inevitable getting closer; nothing truly dangerous but it requires a bit of caution nevertheless.

Like a disaster waiting to happen but not quite. The word stings at the tip of her tongue and it isn’t till she sees out of the corner of her eye the blond hair and the dark clothes, that she understands the feeling.

Rosalie is walking towards them, stepping noisily against the leaves on the floor and moving clumsily between the trunks of the tall trees. Her gait and posture looks awkward, like a bird puffing her feathers to look bigger and more menacing.  Her eyes lock on both, Marie and Claire, sitting side by side and resting their backs against a rock.

How couldn't she notice her twin before? Marie wonders. She isn’t really given the chance to come to a conclusion, though.

         “There you are, we need to gather wood, there’s not enough left for the night.” Rosie states harshly, her eyes are squinting and Marie thinks Rosie might want the ability to glare daggers her way.

Marie nods and stands up with a bounce like a spring. Then after dusting her skirts she offers Claire a hand to stand up, and then offers her the diary so that the girl doesn’t have to crouch to get it.

         “I’m going to check on Catherine.” Claire states smiling softly at Marie, her eyes are a silent thank you. If she had stayed for a little longer she would notice how her smile affects Marie.

Claire leaves walking merrily and Rosie takes a quick glance at her before focusing back on her sister.

         “What were you _doing_?” Rosalie asks in a hard whisper when Marie walks up to her.

         “We were just hanging out.” And Marie’s words carry an unspoken word: _Relax_.

Rosie huffs.

         “Yeah, right!” She takes Marie by the shoulder but even if her voice is a harsh whisper her hand is nothing but gentle. “I could hear your voice in my head; you were so loud and wouldn’t shut up!”

Marie doesn’t say anything about the fact that Rosie could easily block the thoughts if she wanted to. The thing is, if Rosie wasn’t outright blocking them it would mean she was just keeping the mental channel open to check regularly if her twin was ok.

But that means she heard every single embarrassing thought that went through her mind. Rosalie seems to avoid on purpose mentioning the exact words that popped in Marie’s thoughts, though.

Marie looks aside.

         “R-really?” She can hardly remember what she was thinking while she was with Claire but she can’t remember feeling happier in weeks than in those brief minutes.

Rosalie seems to be expecting something else.

         “Sorry...” Marie has to look up to see Rosalie’s eyes which is weird since they’re the same height. It may have something to do with how much she’s hunching or how straight Rosie is standing.

         “I... That’s not... I’m not angry, it’s just...” Words are failing Rosie so she takes advantage of something that used to help them communicate without words.

_Private... Intruding... Awkward..._

Marie can feel her sister’s embarrassment through the bond and that’s more than enough to understand why Rosie is acting tough yet looking really uncomfortable.

It’s so _Typical-Rosalie-Attitude_ to do something out of worry and then act all aggressive when she ends up in an embarrassing situation.

And Marie _knows_ in that moment that she doesn’t love Claire more than she loves Rosie. Her sister might be a stinker sometimes and when emotions overwhelm her she tends to lash out and get defensive, but Marie knows Rosie loves her more than anything. Marie also knows her love for Claire is just different.

         “C’mon you, I bet ya this shiny clock I can get more firewood than you.”

         “Hey! That’s my clock!”

         “Then you better get, like, more firewood so you can get it back!”

In the end Rosie wins anyway, because she hates to lose so she makes an extra effort to make sure she gets more wood than her sister.

It also has to do mostly with the fact that Claire eats some of the branches Marie got and the younger twin has no problem feeding her as much as she likes.

Claire never asks for much but Marie would give her anything she wants without any hesitation.

Catherine looks at her and shakes her head but it’s not quite like a scolding gesture, it’s more like looking at Claire and Marie she sees something... like a projection of memories from moments long lost in time...

...Like she understands perfectly how Marie is feeling, though Marie doesn’t think there’s that much to understand... it’s not that complicated.

Loving Claire is the easiest thing in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Back when I wrote this I didn’t know how things were gonna turn out... it’s so weird to think about all the things I didn’t know back then... reading this was almost like traveling to the past...  
> Anyway, hope ya enjoyed.  
> If you find, like, a typo or a spelling mistake let me know and I'll clean that up. I'll try to read this again later to clean anything I might have overlooked the first 50 times I read this, though.  
> Also, Happy Birthday, Claire!


End file.
